Spiritual Journey: A Transparent View

"Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Contemporary English Version)


Like that of a winding mountain road, my journey to serving Christ has been filled with many twists, turns, ups, and downs. My life before fully surrendering to Christ was anything but great. Although I grew up in church, my family never truly lived the Christian example. In fact, there were many times that I was forced to go to church, while my parents stayed home. So, while I learned all the songs, stories, verses, and "rules" to being Christ-like; I never had anyone to model that behavior. I knew that my parents believed in God, and claimed to be Christians, but people at home seemed very different from people at church. I too would eventually fall into the trap of Satan, living a double life inside versus outside church.

The double life peaked during high school. I would go to parties, get drunk, and do anything that "felt good"; then, I would get up on Sunday morning and go to church. I had to make sure that I kept the "good Christian boy" reputation in check. After all, I wasn't out stealing cars or murdering anyone. I was still a good kid, I just wanted to have a little fun. The double life ended about half way into my first year of college. God was calling me to serve vocationally, and I wanted no part of that. I was too wrapped up in doing what Richard wanted to do. So, I decided that if I stopped going to church, partied more, and ignored God; the voice would go away.

After a few years of trying to mute the voice of God, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, God's voice was not going away. The more I resisted, the louder God's voice seemed to be. One night, in the living room of my apartment, I redidcated my life to Christ. Life minus God was far worse than life with God. In November of 2008, while attending a mid-week youth service with a friend; I fully surrendered to God's calling. Like a ton of bricks, I fell to my knees and surrendered my life to be fully used by God. Since that night, I have been a new creation. A creation that has fully surrendered himself to the one who created him.

Part of fully surrendering is the importance of dicipleship and growing within my faith. I am hungry for information, constantly seeking out new books, materials, verses, and other materials to allow me to grow spiritually. It is my desire to use my gifts/talents of music, ability to encourage others, and passion for education, discipleship, and learning to uplift and grow God's Kingdom. I hope to use the education I obtain from Gardner-Webb to enter into the ministry; hopefully involving education, youth, music, and discipleship. I know that God has a plan for my life, and through Christ, I will do great things in Christ's name.